Fountain tank



Patented Nov. 20, 1928.

UNITED STAT PATENT OFFICE- HOWARD x. PINKERTON ANnl FREEMAN L. RHYNDRESS, or KANSAS cIrY, MISSOURI.

FOUNTAIN TANK.

Application filed,` October' 14, 1926-. Serial No. 141,505. I

provided with insulating material ll'in the Our invention .relates to water coolers and vmore particularly to a new and improved cooling tank for water that is connected d1- rectly with the water supply.

It is a purpose of our invention to provide a water cooler comprising a tank mounted in an insulated receptacle provided with refrig- -erating means that has a constantly open outlet connection and a valved inlet connection,

110 the outlet connection being preferably located near the top of the tank so that the tank is substantially entirely filled with water at all times. y

It is a further purpose of our invention to )l provide a tank in a water cooler having an inlet near the top and adjacent one end f thereof and an outlet near the top and ad,

jacent the other end thereof and means in the tank to provide a Circuitous passage for the water from thel inlet to the outlet. The circuitous passage is preferably obtained by providing baille members in the form of plates extending from 4oppositely arranged wall portions, such as thetop and bottom, of the tank, those extending from the top terminating short of the bottom and those extendling from the bottom terminating short of the top, said baffle members being arranged alternately. y

Otherobj ects and advantages of the invention will appear as the description of the accompanying drawings proceeds. However, we desire to have itdistinctly understood that we do not intend to limit ourselves Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a portion of a refrigerator, partly broken away, showing our improved water cooler in position therein.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary sectional View on an enlarged scale of the water cooler and the adjoining wall portion of the refrigerator. lFig. 3 is a Section taken on lthe line 3-3 of Fig. 2, and f' Fig. 4 is a section taken on the line 4-4 of F1 3.l Y

Refgerring in detail to the drawings Our improved water cooling device is preferably mounted in an insulated receptacle Suchas a refrigerator 10 which is, of course,

to the exact details shown or ldescribed, butl walls thereof. The water cooler `is preferably arranged closely adjacent suitable refrigerating means which may be any refrigerant or a mechanical refrigerating device such as that indicated at 12 which is operated by electric power.

Our improved water cooler comprises a tank 13 which is supported from one of the vertically extending walls 14 of the receptacle cured flatly against the wall 14 and having substantially horizontally extending portions 16 andobliquely extending bracing portions 17 with two-ply flange portions 18 joining the portions 16 and 17, said ianges being turned downwardly on the upper brackets and upwardly on the 'lower brackets to support the tank 13 and hold the same in proper position. -If desired, the tank 13 may be secured vto the brackets 15 in any suitable manner. The brackets 15 .are also provided with the two-ply ange portions 19 Vthrough which the fastening elements 20 Inayextend.

,The tank 13 is preferably made rectangular in form being relatively ytall and long and thin, that is, the vertically extending walls 21 are preferably spaced only a slight distance apart and are relatively large in area while the end walls 22 and the top and bottom walls 23 and 24 respectively, are ,of relatively small area; thus a tank is provided that' has a very largearea exposed to the cooling means. The walls 21 are of course substantially -parallel to each other as are also thewalls 22 and the walls 23 and 24.

A11 inlet 25is provided adjacent one end of the tank near the top thereof with which is connected the inlet pipe 26 which is provided with a valve 27 forjcontrolling the supply of 'Water from the city water supply 28 or any j vided with the free ends 33 spaced from the bottom 24 substantially the same distance as the distance between the endmost plates 32 Y10 by means of the bracket members 15 se? and the wa11s ,22. Alternating with the plates yao 32 are baille plates 34 which extend from the bottom 24 and also extend from one side 21 to the other side 21. The battle' plates 34 are provided with free end portions 35 that are spaced substantially the same distance from the top -23 that the ends 33 of the plates 32 are spaced from the bottom 24. Furthermore, the plates 32 and 34 are spaced substantially equal distances'apart to thus provide a circuitous passage of substantially uniform width from the inlet 25 to the outlet 29. Ac-

cordingly'when the valve 27 is open, water.

will flow -through the tank 13 in the direction indicated by the arrows in Fig. 3, the entrance of the comparatively Warm Water through the inlet 26 moving the cold water in the tank 13 out through the outlet 30. Thus a circulation of water in the tank 13 is obtained every time the inlet valve 27 is opened and due to the fact that .the outlet connection is free and unrestricted the water will circulate readily in the tank -13 as indicated in Fig. 3. Thus a very simple construction of cooler is provided and due to the positionofy the valve 27 the city water pressure is not ex- 2, In a device of the character described, i

an insulated receptacle, refrigerating rneans` therein, a tank mounted in said receptacle having aninlet adjacent one end thereof and an unobstructed outlet `adjacent the other end thereof, ine'ans exterior to the tank for controlling the inlet and balHe members in said tank between said inlet and said outlet.

3. lln a device of the character described, an insulated receptacle, refrigerating means therein, a relatively tall, thin and long tank mounted in said receptacle having a valve inlet adjacent one end thereof and an unobstructed outlet adjacent the other end thereof and bale members in said tank between said inlet and said outlet, said baie members extending alternately from the top and bottom of said tank and terminating in spaced rela- 'tion respectively to said bottom and top.

4. In a device ofthe character described, a tank having a free outlet lfrom its upper portion and having a valved supply intake provided with manual control means exterior to the tank whereby withdrawal of liquid from Athe tank is controlled at the intake.

5. n a device of the character described, a tank having spaced intake and outlet conduits, the outlet conduit being in connection with the upper portion of the tank unobstructed and the intake conduit having valve control exterior to the tank whereby discharge from the tank is eected by pressure of incoming Huid on contents of the tank when the intake conduit is opened.

In testimony whereof we aiiix our signature.

HOWARD. K. Pr-NKERTON. FREEMAN L. RHYNDnEss. 

